“That way,” one of them said, spacing the words as though talking to a drunken fool, which I suppose he was.
I nodded sagely and went.
107
“Vaults?”
The Alendi jerked his thumb over his shoulder and carried on walking, his companion eying me in disgust. I nodded thanks and carried on walking. Next set of steps down, I decided.
It wasn't far to the stairs.
I found Sheo and four Alendi at the bottom and froze.
“You're drunk,” he said, seeming to appraise me.
I guess I just hadn't decided what to do. I had a sword, but I didn't reach for it. Doubtless Sapphire had a plan, but I didn't. I hadn't thought it through, so I just stood there at the bottom of the stairs, gaze locked on Sheo as he looked me up and down as I stood there wavering, his four companions unmoving but alert.
“Are you alone?”
I shook my head, then tried to make it look like I was just confused. Not too difficult under the circumstances.
He shook his head, his expression disappointed.
“Come with me,” he said.
So I did.
As the guards moved close around me and reached for my sword I acted, but it was far too late. There were four of them and they were not surprised or unready or drunk. They overpowered me, took my sword and dragged me after him. I struggled and fought and cursed to no avail. Part of me couldn't believe they had taken me so easily and part of me was defeated and not surprised in the least by my abject failure.
“Whose side are you on?”
Sheo looked at me as though trying to assess my sanity but didn't answer.
He stopped before a door, one of the four, unlocked it and they threw me in.
“Stay here,” Sheo told me, as though I had a choice.
Doubtless Sapphire would have sprung into action at once, effortlessly killed all five and moved on rapidly to find our target, picked the lock that held him captive, clothed him in barbarian gear and escorted him promptly from captivity with the minimum of fuss. I wondered why I had not? Why had surprise shocked me into inaction? How drunk was I exactly?
I stood there staring at the door as it closed and locked, knowing that part of my inaction was the result of not knowing if Sheo were ally or enemy. I still didn't know. The door had a small grille and I pressed my face against it shouted, “Sheo, he has the last King's amulet!”
His voice drifted back down the corridor, mildly irritated. “Shut up, Sumto.”
So, I thought to myself, my face pressed against the grille, now what?
108
I stood still for what seemed a long time, still a little bewildered by the ease with which I had been captured, disarmed and thrown into a cell. I hadn't been ready to act, not ready for violence. I reasoned that it was because I knew I was surrounded by hundreds of Alendi in the keep and thousands outside it. Violence wouldn't work, I had assumed. Guile and stealth were the way forward. An image of the Alendi lying on the stairs, his neck broken, flashed in my mind. Violence worked well enough for Sapphire, I thought.
“Yes,” I said to myself softly, “but I'm not Sapphire.”
“Who are you then?”
I started, banging my head on the door and spun around. I had not realized I was not alone. There were two beds in the cell and on one of them, sitting with his back against the wall and looking at me with mild curiosity, was a man of the city. He studied me with casual indifference, as though he had been waiting for a servant to bring him a plate of tidbits and was mildly puzzled as to why I had been brought instead. I could tell that he was a patron by his dress, by the fact that he was clean-shaven, and that he was looking at me in contempt and had asked the question with the mild curiosity of one who does not really care to hear the answer, as I was bound to be a social inferior and therefore beneath notice.
“Tahal Samant,” I said.
“No, that's me.” He sighed when I did not respond, judging me a man of little wit no doubt. “I asked you first.”
“Sumto Merian Ichatha Cerulian,” I said.
“The drunk,” his lips curled in mild contempt. “Just as I imagined you.”
“I came to rescue you.”
“Oh, thank the gods, I'm saved,” he gestured airily, looking to the heavens.
He was beginning to irritate me. “Orelia asked me to come and get you.”
He sighed. “How like her. And what are you going to do now you have found me? Pour me a drink? Sing me a song? Dance a drunken reel? Tell me a ribald joke and laugh uproariously at your own surpassing wit?”
That's when I lost my temper.
109
Tahal was sulking.
I gave him his due. He'd been keen enough to fight, coming up off the cot as I took two quick steps toward him, but the first kick in the face had smacked the back of his head against the wall and that had taken the fight out of him. It had been more or less a one way beating after that. I felt bad about it, but not very. I'd made sure he wouldn't drown in his own blood and then made myself comfortable on the other cot.
When he woke up he lay on the cot glaring at me, nose broken and eyes blackened. “Bastard,” he's muttered at last, the epithet mumbled through swollen lips.
“Best remember that and keep the insults to a minimum,” I'd told him.
After a very long silence, during which I stared at the door and tried to think, he said something else that I didn't catch.
“What?” I asked.
“Is that a stone in your forehead?”
I nodded. I had also been toying with the ten carat stone that was still on my finger and that Tahal had obviously not seen. I knew that Sheo would not have overlooked it, would not have left me with it by accident. I just nodded absently and he was quiet for a while, evidently thinking.
“You don't have any magic do you?” It was an accusation, tone rising in surprised mockery.
“None worth talking about.”
He snorted, then winced in pain. “Typical.”
“Shut up,” I told him absently. I was trying to think.
He was silent for a good while but couldn't let it go.
“I do. Let me attune it and I can get us out of here.”
I thought about it. It wasn't easy to think, as hung over as I was. The dogs had begun to bay some time ago, picking up my scent as I sobered. I could almost feel them getting closer, slowly getting louder. “I don't think that's a good idea.”
“Oh no,” he muttered. “Far better to stay and rot in here.”
“You tried to escape then?”
He didn't answer until I looked at him grimly and made to move.
“Yes, yes, I tried.” He sounded angry to cover his fear of me. He was in no shape to go another round and knew I had it in me to beat him bloody. “I pretended to change allegiance,” he sighed, deciding he had better explain and not knowing where to start. “There is a necromancer,” he began patiently.
“Kukran Epthel, “ I nodded.
“No. Ishal Laharek. He…” Tahal hesitated, deciding how much to tell.
“Tortured? Intimidated?”
He sighed, expression falling into tired and bitter lines. “Tried to persuade me to join his cause. Kept hammering on about freedom, the evils of the city, slavery, how he and his would put us down and make a new free society in our place. As if any society could be more free!”
He paused and I supplied a nod of agreement, though my ideas were doubtless a little better conceived than his.
“There were other persuasions. Examples of what other ways I might serve. I pretended to relent. I was afforded some measure of freedom until I tried to escape; yesterday I think, or the day before, it's hard to tell time in here.”
“What did he have you do?”
He frowned at me. “Write letters. Try and gain support for the cause among the knights. Give false information to the patrons. I doubt anyone paid much attention to them. I worded them carefully.”
I nodded. I
knew what he meant. Our grammar is a little complex and the language subtle. One clue at the end of a letter would let you read it and interpret everything anew, gaining a whole new meaning.
“And?”
“Information. I told him a lot of truth, some of which will lead them to underestimate us. Numbers of our army, and so forth.”
I nodded again. The truth is that we have an army of four legions, and right now they were far away and engaged in another war. The fact that we could raise armies quickly was another matter.
“You did okay,” I told him.
His face twisted in contempt. He didn't need or want my approval. Or anyone's. He was a patron of the city. No further vindication was needed.
I let it pass and ignored him for a while, listening to the dogs baying in my head. I had really gained only one thing from what he had told me. There were more Necromancers.
“Is he a lich?”
“What? Who?”
“Never mind,” I told him.
So, Ishal Laharek was not a walking corpse like Kukran Epthel. Not so advanced in the hierarchy? How many where they? How dangerous was Ishal? Had he acquired that mode of thought, that inertia which colored Kukran's actions? Why was I thinking about this? Because Sheo had left me with a ten carat stone, that's why. He had a plan, and I didn't doubt that in some way I was part of it. Or perhaps he just left me with a way out, with Tahal's help.
“How much magic do you have?” I asked him. “What spells?”
He glared at the stone in my forehead and I glared back. “Just tell me,” I threatened.
So he did.
110
They threw Sapphire into the cell some time later.
The rattling of a key in the lock woke me and I came to my feet. Tahal didn't bother. He just sat with his back to the wall, gazing indifferently at the door.
Kerral stood in the light beyond the doorway. His face was shadowed but I knew him straight away. The size of him, the way he stood. These things were familiar. He had saved my life once, I remembered. What would he do now?
He moved a little, pointing at Tahal. “You, come with me.”
Tahal hesitated, then shifted reluctantly. Getting to his feet seemed an unendurable chore. “Well, goodbye, Sumto. Good luck.” he said, and went.
I just watched him go. He had the ten carat ring and wasn't doing a thing. What could I say? There was nothing. I stared after him, dully horrified, Knowing that the stupid drunken Sumto had been tricked into giving up his one asset, yet still hoping that Tahal was just biding his time.
I wished for a moment that I hadn't beaten him. Then was glad I did while I had the chance.
Kerral moved back into the light, watching me. As soon as he was sure I was watching him he shrugged and moved away from the doorway. Two husky barbarians took his place, carrying a burden between them. They threw Sapphire at my feet and closed the door without a word.
I stood in shock for a moment, looking down at him. I couldn't see much but his clothes were dark with blood and I could hear his breathing. It didn't sound good.
“Well,” I said softly, “you found me.”
111
It took a time to get him into a position where I might be able to lift him onto a cot. He was heavier than he looked and I was trying to be careful not to hurt him. Not that he would feel it. He had taken more than one crack to the head and was deeply unconscious. I was worried about his ribs, about making things worse. There was a pink blood frothing at his lips as he breathed shallowly. He had taken wounds everywhere and his clothes were drenched in blood. His left arm was broken. I changed my mind about lifting him and instead dragged the mattress off my cot and laid it on the floor, easing him slowly onto it. I tried to make him comfortable. There was nothing else I could do. I stripped his shirt and bound his wounds with care. Some were still bleeding sluggishly. He'd lost a lot of blood. When I had done as best I could I covered him with every blanket in the cell and settled down to watch him.
Tahal was gone. I couldn't believe my stupidity in coming here to rescue him. He had the stone. And Sapphire was dying. I didn't see how things could get worse.
I watched Sapphire. Listened to his ugly breathing. Sometimes he moved in his unnatural sleep, whimpered and lay still. I doubted he'd ever wake.
I wished I could sleep too. I was exhausted, but sleep had never been further away from me. I wondered what they would do with me. Wondered if Kukran would try and Turn me once more or just leave me here to rot. They hadn't brought food or even water. I suspected they would just leave me here to die. Us, I thought; they are going to leave us here to die.
The dogs had become loud in my head, and I had to fight to think through their raucous, relentless baying. They sounded close. Abruptly their tone changed to frenzied rage, ferocious growls mixed in with long ululating yelps and yammering screams chopped off abruptly. They were fighting and dying, being killed. Who would do that? Hope welled up inside me. I knew that the Alendi had retreated to the Eyrie. They must have had reason; the army of the city must threaten them. And that told me who was killing the dogs. It was an army of the city, possibly already outside the walls. My spirit roiled with mixed hope, anticipation and fear. They would win, take the Eyrie. We would be free.
Sapphire choked in his sleep and I hovered over him, watching anxiously as I listened to the dogs fighting and dying.
I just hoped our army would be quick enough. Knowing Sapphire couldn't hear me I told him anyway. “Hold on, Sapphire,” I told him. “Our army is here. Help is on the way.”
Still, there was no guarantee that the enemy would let us live long enough to see freedom.
112
Sapphire woke once more, I was half asleep myself but listened to him anyway. He talked randomly, feverish, not knowing I was there and I think not even fully conscious. I learned some things then that I would rather not have known. Details about his childhood, if it could be called that. After he fell silent I lay barely awake myself, wondering about the kind of men who would subject a child to such horrors, put them under such extreme pressure in order to mold a tool for their own use. For him, from the age of five, every single day had been a test, with pain or death the consequence of failure. Sometimes pain was the test. 'First to cry out dies,' and then they had burned them with hot irons until one cried out. How many had he said? A thousand children, and twenty to survive. No wonder he was what he was, I thought. No wonder.
I slept, but didn't sleep well. In my dream there was mist.
I knew it was Jocasta even before I saw her.
“Sumto?”
“I'm here,” I told her.
The mists cleared and there she was, beside her stood a shadowy figure I could hardly see. She was holding the shadow, as though supported by it. She was pale, swaying. Behind her was an indistinct gray backdrop. I glanced around. We were in a tent, just the two of us and the shadow propping her up.
“Are you all right?” I stepped closer. “Where are you?”
She smiled. “I am well enough, Sumto. I'm with the army. The enemy pulled out of Undralt and two days later our forces arrived. We are with the army now, safe as we can be. The army is close to the Eyrie.”
“I know.”
Her face went very slowly still. “Where are you?”
I pulled a face. I didn't want to tell her.
“You're there, aren't you? In the Eyrie. What are you doing there? Why are you there? Are you all right?”
I held up a hand to still the flood of questions. “I am okay for now. I came for Tahal Samant.”
She hissed out a breath and rolled her eyes to the ceiling. “Are you insane? Why? Why did you do it?”
I shrugged. “I had to do something. I dared not stay with you. The dogs…”
“Dogs? Those dogs were something to do with you?”
I nodded, told her briefly. She didn't say anything for a while.
“Don't come in after me,” I told her. “The army will take the Eyrie… it is big
enough a force to do the job isn't it? They haven't sent too small an army?”
She shook her head. “Four legions. The north is going to be… well,” she shrugged, “pacified.”
I blinked. Four legions. Over thirty thousand men, and who knew how many battle mages. Enough to do the job and to spare. “How far away are they?”
“A few miles. Close. I think they will close at dawn and attack at once. Where are you?”
“The vaults,” I answered absently. I imagined what would happen. The battle mages would bring down the walls, our soldiers would stream into the breeches. It would be a slaughter. “They know you're coming. Where are the rest of their forces?”
She shook her head, touching my lips to still them. “The Prashuli and Orduli chieftains were killed in battle at Paresh. The bulk of their forces destroyed, the rest fled. Are you alone?”
“No. Sapphire is with me but he is badly hurt,” I told her. “They got as far south as Paresh?”
“Listen to me. Yes, and further. Muria was almost overrun before they were stopped. But I understand that ever since then we have been breaking them and haven't lost an engagement. At Paresh we broke them and their alliance dissolved. It's been mopping up since then. A legion or two breaking off to deal with minor armies as the rest pushed north.”
“The Eyrie is the last?”
“The Orduli and Prashuli have sued for peace, offered terms. Nothing is settled yet but they won't be taking part in the fighting any more. Unless we decide to punish them.”
I nodded, thinking. “And further north? Other tribes to the east and west?”
“I don't know everything, Sumto. I don't. I'm not being told.” She looked fretful.
“What's wrong?”
She looked down, shrugged and looked up at me again, raising her chin. “My family are not happy with me.”
The Last King's Amulet pof-1 Page 29
